Small Learning Community: Difference between revisions

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A '''Small Learning Community''' (SLC), also referred to as a '''School-Within-A-School''', is a [[school organizational model]] that is increasingly common in [[United States|American]] [[secondary school]]s to subdivide large school populations into smaller, autonomous groups of students and teachers.

A '''Small Learning Community''' ('''SLC'''), also referred to as a '''School-Within-A-School''', is a [[school organizational models|school organizational model]] that is an increasingly common form of [[learning environment]] in [[United States|American]] [[secondary school]]s to subdivide large school populations into smaller, autonomous groups of students and teachers. SLCs can also be physical [[learning space]]s.

The primary purpose of restructuring secondary schools into SLCs is to create a more [[personalized learning]] environment to better meet the needs of students.<ref name="AFA">''Architecture for Achievement - building patterns of small school learning'', Victoria Bergsagel, Tim Best, Kathleen Cushman, Lorne McConachie, Wendy Sauer, David Stephen. Mercer Island, WA. 1997. Page 101-104. ISBN 978-0-9796777-0-0. Retrieved 2016-04-07</ref> Each community will often share the same teachers and student members from grade to grade. Teachers in these units usually have common planning time to allow them to develop interdisciplinary projects and keep up with the progress of their shared students.

The primary purpose of restructuring secondary schools into SLCs is to create a more [[personalized learning]] environment to better meet the needs of students.<ref name="AFA">''Architecture for Achievement - building patterns of small school learning'', Victoria Bergsagel, Tim Best, Kathleen Cushman, Lorne McConachie, Wendy Sauer, David Stephen. Mercer Island, WA. 1997. Page 101-104. {{ISBN |978-0-9796777-0-0}}. Retrieved 2016-04-07</ref> Each community will often share the same teachers and student members from grade to grade. Teachers in these units usually have common planning time to allow them to develop interdisciplinary projects and keep up with the progress of their shared students.

==Types==

==Types==

SLCs can take several forms.

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* Career Academies are generally a three- or four-year structure developed around a career theme or [[Career Clusters]]. Characterized by career-related electives and integration of career theme across entire academic curriculum.

* Freshman Academies are structure designed to support 9th grade students as they transition into high school.

* [[Magnet Schoolsschool|Magnet schools]] are a career-themed SLC that includes accelerated course-work for Gifted & Talented students.

==Examples Courses ==

Core courses include:

*[[Atlantic Coast High School]] (Jacksonville)

*[[Balboa High School (San Francisco)#Curriculum|Balboa High School (San Francisco)]]

* SLC Portfolio

*[[Betty H. Fairfax High School]] (Phoenix)

*[[Cane Ridge High Schoo]]l (Nashville, TN)

* SLC Honors World History I: Prehistory - 1500

*[[Chávez High School (Houston)]]

* SLC Honors World History II: 1500–Present

*[[Diamond Bar High School]] (Diamond Bar, CA)

* SLC Honors United States History (or SLC Honors European History)

*[[Edmonds Woodway High School]] (Edmonds, Washington)

*[[Eleanor Roosevelt High School (Greenbelt, Maryland)|Eleanor Roosevelt High School (Maryland)]]

* SLC Honors Geometry

*[[Fayetteville High School (Arkansas)|Fayetteville High School]] (Fayetteville, AR)

* SLC Honors Algebra II

*[[Hillsdale High School (San Mateo)]]

* SLC Honors Statistics

*[[Kelvyn Park High School (Chicago, Illinois)]]

* SLC Honors Biology: Ecological & Molecular (E/M)

*[[Lebanon High School (Lebanon, OR)]]

* SLC Honors Chemistry

*[[Lincoln High School (Tacoma, Washington)]]

* SLC Honors Environmental Science: Practical & Experimental (P/E)

*[[Lynnwood High School]] (Bothell, Washington)

* SLC Heart of Advanced Science (In some schools, this course is called "SLC Integrated Advanced Sciences")

*[[Marysville Getchell High School]] (Marysville, Washington)

* SLC Honors English I

*[[McGavock High School (Nashville, TN)]]

* SLC Honors English II

*[[Minneapolis South High School#Today|Minneapolis South High School]]

* SLC Completion of Advanced English (In some schools, this course is called "SLC Honors English III")

*[[Monroe High School (Los Angeles)]]

*[[North Hollywood High School]] [[(Valley Village, Los Angeles)]]

Electives include:

*[[Northwestern High School (Hyattsville, Maryland)|Northwestern High School (Maryland)]]

*[[R.L. Turner High School (Carrollton, TX)]]

* SLC Language Enrichment (French, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or German; depending on school)

*[[The Wheatley School (Old Westbury, NY)]]

* SLC Ethics and Philosophy

*[[Wyandotte High School (Kansas City, Kansas)]]

* SLC Theory of Knowledge (may not be available in most SLC schools; effective 2019)

* SLC Modern Technology

* SLC Computer Sciences

* SLC Arts

* SLC Music Theory

* SLC Design

* SLC Psychology

* SLC Reading and Writing Lab

Other courses:

* Bridge to SLC

** This is a course for students in grade 8 admitted to SLC in the following year of high school. This prepares students in the structure of SLC with maths, humanities, sciences, and English with an advanced level of preparation. The class conjoins all courses spread in weeks.

==See also==

* [[Small schools movement]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070715045227/http://www.acteonline.org/resource_center/rch/careeracadem.cfm Association for Career and Technical Education small learning community resources]

*[http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/rss/index.html Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory]

*[http://www.theworksuite.com/id30.html Background and Structure of Career Clusters]

*[http://www.ed.gov/programs/slcp/index.html U.S. Department of Education SLC Program]

*[http://casn.berkeley.edu/ Career Academy Support Network]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930120134/http://www.irre.org/ftf/slc.asp Institute for Research and Reform in Education]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070313042544/http://www.slcommunities.org/ California League of Schools]

*[http://neponline.org National Educator Program]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

[[Category:United States educational programs]]